YouTube’s ‘Joshua Barretto’ is currently working on an unofficial port of Super Mario 64 on the Nintendo Game Boy Advance. And although this fan demake is still a WIP, it already looks super cool.

As Barretto has stated, this is a from-scratch rewrite of Super Mario 64 on the Game Boy Advance. The modder has used meshes from Super Mario 64 DS to create the environments. And, as you will see, they will immediately remind you of those from the classic N64 version.

What’s also cool here is that the port also has some graphics settings. Players will be able to disable some graphics in order to boost their performance. For instance, you can disable stage textures or figure textures. And yes, this demake will run on the real Nintendo Game Boy Advance handheld.

It’s pretty crazy witnessing such a port of Super Mario 64. Let’s not forget that the Nintendo Game Boy Advance does not have any GPU or native support for floating-point numbers. And, since the GBA is too slow for a z-buffer, triangles are instead sorted by depth.

In a way, it’s a miracle what Barretto has already achieved. In future versions, the modder plans to add enemies to fight. Moreover, he will implement doors and stage transitions.

For those wondering, there is no ETA on when this unofficial port of SM64 will come out. From what I know, Barretto does plan to release it once it’s complete. And, since I’m a big fan of retro games, I’ll be sure to let you know the moment it comes out.

And I know, this is a console/handheld port of a game. So, why do I bother with it, right? Well, if you’ve been a regular here, you’d know the sweet spot I have for 8-bit/16-bit consoles. Yes, the Nintendo GBA was advertised as a 32-bit handheld. However, due to its 16-bit graphics processor, it had more in common with the SNES than with the PSX or the Saturn.

Not only that, but this “impossible” port looks really cool. So, no matter the platform, it’s something that deserves the spotlight. At least in my opinion.

Enjoy and stay tuned for more!

John Papadopoulos

John is the founder and Editor in Chief at DSOGaming. He is a PC gaming fan and highly supports the modding and indie communities. Before creating DSOGaming, John worked on numerous gaming websites. While he is a die-hard PC gamer, his gaming roots can be found on consoles. John loved – and still does – the 16-bit consoles, and considers SNES to be one of the best consoles. Still, the PC platform won him over consoles. That was mainly due to 3DFX and its iconic dedicated 3D accelerator graphics card, Voodoo 2. John has also written a higher degree thesis on the “The Evolution of PC graphics cards.”
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